TOKYO – While the doors have yet to open for this weekend’s “UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson” event, company officials are already declaring the event a ticket-selling success.

UFC officials today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that ticket sales are still moving briskly for this weekend’s event at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, and the fight card is expected to sell-out all of the nearly 20,000 available seats.

Furthermore, UFC officials are so encouraged by the buzz surrounding UFC 143 that plans for a return to Japan are already under consideration, and multiple annual visits – as well as a version of “The Ultimate Fighter” – are also possible.

“It’s exciting,” UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com of the UFC’s first event in Japan since 2000. I love it here. I’m very excited about coming back here. … This is a place where a lot of great organizations held events. Not only did they build up a lot of Japanese talent but a lot of talent from around the world here in Japan.

“I think the event’s already been successful. We’re close to a sellout already, and obviously the card we put together for this event is phenomenal.”

While official figures have not been released, MMAjunkie.com has learned UFC 144, which takes place Sunday in Japan but airs live in the U.S. on Saturday night, is currently utilizing a modified seating arrangement at Saitama Super Arena that should provide just under 20,000 seats. Less than 2,000 tickets remain at this time, and UFC Asia executive Mark Fischer anticipates the rest will be gone by fight time.

“I think we really put together a great event here,” Fischer said. “It’s going very well. We’re just about a sellout. I think by event day, we’re going to be sold-out, and there’s incredible buzz in the market. … We do expect the last few days to see a late surge and sell whatever is left, which isn’t a lot.

Much of the pre-fight discussion surrounding UFC 144, which sees UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar defend his belt against top contender and former WEC titleholder Benson Henderson, has centered around Japan’s ability to serve as a viable market for the UFC. While the country’s MMA landscape has been a bit tumultuous since the 2007 collapse of PRIDE, White believes Japan is ready to host his promotion.

“We’re getting all this stuff dialed in,” White said. “We tried to come back to Japan earlier than this, but the deal we had put together fell apart. We stayed on it and didn’t abandon coming to Japan. The deal didn’t fall apart this time. We got everything done that we needed to get done to put on an event. All the things that go into bringing a live event to a new territory and not getting smashed financially, we got done.”

Fischer said the company is so encouraged by the early results that it’s already considering potential annual returns to the country, including both pay-per-view and “Fight Night” events, in addition to an international version of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He cautions that it’s far too soon to consider those plans concrete, but he remains optimistic Japan will serve as a solid future market.

“I think it’s a little bit wait-and-see but certainly we do feel based on the strength of what we’ve seen so far leading into the event – the buzz, the ticket sales so far – that I think it’s a market we’d love to come back to with a big event at least annually,” Fischer said. “Whether or not we complement that with maybe one or two smaller events – perhaps ‘Fight Nights’ – and we think there’s quite good potential for an ‘Ultimate Fighter,’ maybe in a slightly different format here.

“That’s a little bit wait-and-see, but I do think that in some shape or form, we will be coming back on probably a semi-annual basis – a big event and, ideally, a second event, whether that be a ‘Fight Night’ event or ‘Ultimate Fighter’ format.”

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